Study On The C-E Translation Strategy Of Product Profiles Based On Text Typology Theory

With the acceleration of global economic integration, China is involved in more and more economic exchanges with other countries in the world, and numerous domestic enterprises attempt to "go global" to seek opportunities and compete in the global market. At the same time, the further development and extensive application of the Internet makes a company’s website become a window for foreign customers to know the company as well as its products, which finally ensures a closer contact between these two parts. Therefore, the translation of product profiles on a company’s website acts as a bridge to connect the company with its potential customers, and the translation quality plays an important role in the establishment of business relationships.By taking text typology theory as the theoretical framework, using comparative and qualitative research methods, and incorporating the separation of intermediate goods (also producer goods or semi-finished products) and final goods in economics, this thesis focuses on the C-E translation of product profiles on companies’websites in the business field, and attempts to offer a new perspective for the C-E translation of product profiles both in theory and practice. Based on the comparative analysis between Chinese and English product profiles, it is not hard to find that both Chinese and English product profiles share the similarities such as frequent use of accurate and simple vocabularies as well as imperative sentences, wide application of the combination of verbal texts and visual images, and prominent preference for vocative phrases and statistical evidences; while due to disparities in linguistic and cultural aspects, there are also some sharp differences between Chinese and English product profiles. For instance, Chinese product profiles present the characteristics such as heavy use of modifiers, four-character and poetic phrases, as well as highlight of collectivism, Chinese style and honors; conversely, English product profiles are inclined to brevity, prefer to employ comparative or superlative, and highlight individualism, product’s quality and user’s personal feeling. What’s more, through the comparative analysis between intermediate goods profiles and final goods profiles, the author figures out that referential function is the dominant language function of intermediate goods profiles, and intermediate goods profiles are typical informative texts; while appellative function is the dominant language function of final goods profiles, and final goods profiles are typical appellative texts. Based on the differences between Chinese and English product profiles and different dominant language functions between intermediate goods profiles and final goods profiles, the author tries to explore proper translation strategy under the guidance of text typology theory. According to the research, equifunctional translation, which attempts to achieve the equivalence of content, form, layout or style between the source and the target profile, is the best strategy for the translation of intermediate goods profiles; while adaptation, which mainly involves the techniques of adjusting the information sequence, addition, deletion and logical rewriting, as well as the approach of resorting to the parallel profile, is the best and necessary strategy for the translation of final goods profiles.The research findings may offer practical guidance for the C-E translation of product profiles, and finally help to improve a company’s product publicity effect and build up successful business relationships.